The overwhelming need for an Anti-conversion Law

Editorial

It is the Pope’s vision to make India a Christian State. Christian preachers in India aim to fulfil their master’s dream !

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The suicide case related to a Hindu girl studying at a Christian missionary school in Tamil Nadu has become a hot topic at the moment and deservingly so. It highlights the grave issue of religious conversions. In this particular case, the school authorities constantly pressurised and tortured the victim to convert her to Christianity. The school authorities even asked her to convert to Christianity if she wished to continue her education at the missionary school. As part of their pressure tactics, the girl was not allowed to celebrate ‘Pongal’ – a traditional Hindu festival. The poor girl could not take it anymore and finally committed suicide. While interacting with the media, the parents of this 17-year-old girl revealed that the school authorities forced their daughter to clean the toilets and sweep floors as a punishment for not converting to Christianity. Hindus do not want any other student to go through such a struggle and that this should be the last incident of death due to forcible religious conversion. Moreover, in this case, justice should be delivered swiftly, and accordingly, the culprits – Raquel Mary (a nun at the school) and Sagaya Mary (the hostel warden) should be punished severely.

The ugly truth of Convent schools

The Convent schools do not allow their students to apply vermillion and wear bangles. They are discouraged from wearing traditional attire. The sacred thread usually worn around the wrist is forbidden. Applying a tilak to the forehead or wearing Hindu pendants is discouraged. Hindu students are not allowed to enter the school premises with a ‘Rakhi’ tied around their wrists. Many other anti-Hindu restrictions are forcibly imposed on students, and on this background, the process of conversion gradually begins. This involves deliberate insult of Hindu Deities. The teachers refer to Deity Ganapati as the Elephant God and Deity Hanuman as the Monkey God. Their modus operandi is quite simple. A common trick in this regard is to stop the school bus citing a technical issue and asking students to pray to their respective Deities. It is no surprise that the bus does not start after such praying. Later, the Christian teachers ask the students to pray specifically to Jesus, and miraculously, the bus starts. Thus, the importance of praying to Jesus is impressed upon the students. In this way, the teachers impress upon the students that Jesus is the only saviour. In another trick, the teachers ask students who stay near a riverbank to think of their saviour in case of torrent rains. Later, they ask a simple question – “Which will float under such circumstances – your Deity (whose Idol is made of stone or metal) or the Holy Cross ?” In this manner, they tell Hindu students that it is foolish to expect someone (a Hindu Deity) to help who cannot protect himself during adverse circumstances. This amounts to intellectual conversion. Such concocted stories help students feel more connected with Jesus, Mary and the Bible, and at the same time, they start to dislike their (Hindu) Deities and Saints. This modus operandi brings the students closer to Christianity and the Christian culture.

Opposition to religious conversion has resulted in the death of students

The situation is no different in foreign countries, where a record number of criminal cases have been registered against Christian schools in the past few years. Thousands of students have been sexually abused in foreign countries. The pastors responsible have not been punished as a mere confession of the crime in front of the Chief Priest was deemed enough. Hence, the nuns and other female workers who are subjected to sexual abuse do not come out in the open with the truth behind the shroud. Some months ago, hundreds of graves of indigenous children who had refused to convert to Christianity were found in the premises of a Catholic school in Canada. This heinous act was condemned across the world; however, the school authorities did not even care to apologise for the act. The Pope (the supreme religious leader of Catholics) neither rebuked the guilty pastors of sexual assault on children and nuns, nor did he announce a thorough legal investigation into the matter. He downplayed the acts by loosely mentioning them as minor one-off incidents. It is equally important to note that even the Church also does not ask the pastors in respective countries to appeal to the respective National Governments to punish the guilty in all such cases. Its policy, in this case, seems to simply – ‘Let bygones be bygones. Despite many such incidents that have come to light in the past few months, the Church does not seem to acknowledge the gravity of the situation or has been conveniently ignoring it to further its agenda.

The ultimate objective : Conversion of Hindus

Christian Ashrams, charitable organisations and hospitals are not institutions of humanity, but centres of conversions. In these centres, initially, help is offered to lure the needy. But later, the real agenda (of religious conversion) starts getting implemented. This is an open secret applicable to Mother Teresa as well. In the name of providing financial assistance to the vulnerable sections of society, Mother Teresa and her organisation converted millions of gullible, needy Hindus. Even today, millions of Hindus live in dire poverty. Some of them are from the tribal categories. They struggle hard to earn their daily livelihood. They become easy targets of conversions for the missionaries. The circumstances compel them to convert to Christianity against their will (to provide their families with sustenance). These missionaries are on the task to make India a Christian State. It is indeed the Pope’s vision for India. Naturally, the Christian preachers in India have assumed this responsibility to fulfil their master’s dream. As a result, they opposed the newly drafted ‘Anti-Conversion Bill’ tooth and nail in Karnataka. The Government should enact a central law to stop forcible conversions. However, it should also address the root cause, and accordingly, provide education on Dharma at temples, schools and colleges.